A downloadable game for Windows

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A very short, tongue in cheek, horror point and click game, made as a homage to 90s  FMV games and B-horror movies, you take the role as the titular girl who finds herself trapped in a house with an unwelcome guest.

The objective of the game is to find the way out of the house, but be careful if you take too long the killer might get you...

If you liked the game and would like us to continue and expand on the idea or see more, let me know in the comments.


Note: You can press ESC to skip the intro.

 

StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows
Rating
Rated 2.6 out of 5 stars
(5 total ratings)
Authorparanoic
GenreAdventure, Puzzle
TagsDark, Escape Game, FMV, Horror, Point & Click, Short, Spooky, suspense

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Click download now to get access to the following files:

The Girl In The House v1.1.rar 452 MB

Development log

Comments

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GAME WAS SO GOOFY 💀

I enjoyed this a lot. Brought back memories of Gabriel Knight.

Why not add it to the Adventure Game Studio  database? https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/add/ 

there are things that is already said here, there is one thing i spotted, that this game has a continuation error.

Show post...

so real creepy

(+1)

First off I want to say great job. This brought back a lot a great memories with fmv and point and click games from my youth. I really enjoyed this game so thank you for that. In my video your game starts at 7:59.

Thank you! I really enjoyed your playthrough!

(+1)

Игра конечно прикольно, но ломается когда берешь 2й раз фонарь -_-

А так молодцы, так держать :)

Had some trouble some trouble at the end with the game but overall had some fun with it :D 

Thanks!

Thank you for taking the time to play the game, It's a shame that the game crashed like that haha first time I see it happening to anyone. Also you have to use the inventory to use the items hehe.  I really enjoyed the video!

(-4)

That's the baddest & worst game ever. Sev played it and found it really disgusting.

Don't know who Sev is... well that's too bad he didn't like it I guess.

(+2)

I'm sorry... baddest and worst?  Your english is worse than this bad review by whoever Sev is.. Honestly, it's really disgusting that Sev couldn't speak for himself.

Sev is a youtuber and never said that somebody should comment. The game itself has a good idea, but a bad implementation.

(1 edit)

btw his video is this: 

(+1)

I finally got my laptop's back yesterday :P here ya go :D nice job dev

Okay—so I gave this another go after a rough start, and I got through it!

Despite a few questionable design choices (with good intentions), it was a bit of a chore to get through, but I'm such a sucker for 90's-era FMV games I still had a blast! Please keep making more like this! I bet the next one would be 5x better!

I ended up making a condensed Lumps Play of the gameplay footage for people wanting any help or just wanting to see how the game plays out. Hope you like the video! 

Cheers. 🍻
(+1)

Hello there! I really enjoyed the video and was laughing out loud at some of your commentaries. I appreciate the criticism and thank you for taking the time to play the game .

I'm really glad you liked it! It was a lot of fun to make.

Keep making stuff! Cheers

As you have addressed in other comments you could hit the ESC button to skip the introduction cut scene. I didn't know this was a thing at the time of playing this. I think it would be helpful after the first failure for it to appear somewhere so you can know that there is a skip option for the introduction. I didn't mind watching it again but, i'm sure it's frustrating to see it over and, over again. If you know you can ESC past it would be fine. I really enjoy the style of this game. It reminds me of playing games like psychic detective on the PS1! Long do I kind of miss the fmv 90's nostalgia of my teenage youth. Hopefully you will make more games like this.

Hey thank you for the video! I now made sure to add that info to the description, I  think I assumed most people would do that instinctively hehe

Watched the opening cutscene/title screen intro, got control of the situation finally, clicked a mirror once, instantly died.

Booted it up again. Sat through it all (can't skip), clicked the mirror on the other wall in the same room once again, and instantly got stabbed again with the same footage. 

Is this supposed to be fun? Sorry to be frank, but it's been nearly 10 minutes and all I've done is rewatch the same 3 scenes. Am I doing something wrong here? Am I not supposed to click on things in the environment? I'm a big fan of FMV games and was pretty excited to play this one!

(+1)

It's a short game about finding a way to escape the house, don't stay on one spot too long or the killer will get you, btw you can skip the opening intro by pressing ESC. cheers!

No. Good concept, but very poorly executed. 

I'd have really liked to complete this one, but it's a little too frustrating. I understand wanting to keep the pace fenetic by having a death state after idling too long, but that in combination with unskippable FMV's,  and no clear signposting of a) interactable items, and b) frame exits, means that it's more than likely you'll die before you figure out what to do. If you want the player to have to replay the game over and over before winning, that's fine, but include the option to skip forward so you can run through what you already know. If you want the player to be able to get through in one hit, make it clear where you can exit the frame (I died in the TV room four times trying to exit the frame because I couldn't find the sweet spot) and increase the death state idle. 

Incidentally, my best run ended because I was opening the box to get the key and that set the idle timer off. You can't kill the player for experimenting with their items if you build the system like a point and click. I wouldn't have minded so much if I could make up that progress again without sitting through every segment, but alas you're forced too. 

Also, just a thought, but consider adding some internal monologue - for example, using the flashlight on the dark area yielded nothing, but it wasn't entierly clear, so I went to check my inventory and got killed because she idled too long. A quick 'nope nothing in there' could have helped that. This was the case with the entrance door too, I wasn't sure if she was fighting off an assaliant or trying to open it. Maybe a simple 'it's jammed from the outside?" would fix that. 

That all being said I love the concept and wish their were more games like this, I would really love to give it another go in the future and love to check out your other games, this is just a little too mechanically broken at the moment for it to be a rewarding experience. I will probably try it again tho. 

(+1)

Hey! Really appreciate you taking the time to write about your experience with the game, so let me address the issues you mentioned. I agree with you regarding the signposting of frame exits, a clear visual indicator would come a long way helping people navigate the house, however the pixel hunt aspect of finding the useful items was by choice since that was the way most FMV games the game is paying homage to were, Also is a very very short game and as you said, meant to be replayed until you get a perfect run. 

I tried to balance the time you get until the killer finds you to keep you on your toes but you still have time to perform the actions you require, most point and click games have a leisure pace and this is not the case, sorry if you felt annoyed by dying, do you think the timer should be longer? if that's the case how long without losing the frenetic aspect?

Regarding skipping forward well, the game is so short that it would barely be a game if you could skip all the FMVs, since basically that's what the game is, I don't want to break the suspension of disbelief if you can skip skip skip everything, it's supposed to be a real person moving around a house if you get what I'm saying hehe.

You are right on point with the internal monologues serving as feedback for the player, I'm taking note on that one! totally missed those !

Again thank you for the feedback! truly appreciated!

(1 edit)

Thanks for replying! I actually went back an hour later and realized the game ended two frames after where I had died in my best run, so you're right about it being short enough that the FMV's don't overstay their welcome too much. I think it was more frustrating early game because exit frames weren't marked and I felt I didn't have the time to explore a frame to find the exit points without dying (And you hide the cursor during FMV so I couldn't even prepare my cursor in advance), so I died a lot (and watched the intro sequence each time as well since I didn't realize ESC skipped the intro, since it didnt work on the others).  But honestly that might be the experience you want to sell, and it was overall good so I guess these are just some thoughts heh ^_^ 

I think you could basically leave the game unchanged by simple putting a watched/unwatched flag on each FMV and let the player jump to the next idle frame only if they've watched it AND died (including the death scene for that location).Then pixel hunting the exits is fine, and dying is just part of it, because you can quickly make up your lost progress. I know you want the game to be longer but I think the player would get more satisfaction out of expanded gameplay itself and not artifically inflating it with inconvenince.  Since it's all already been shot, simply having more items per room to interact with would be a neat idea, provided I can skip to idle,  since this would increase the fenetic pace by looking for the right one. Giving in game achievements for finding every death is another idea, because then at least you feel like you're still moving toward the end of the game even in death. 

But the other option if skipping to idle is a no go, is to clear up the exit sweet spots (maybe just make them a little larger) and extend the idle (I'd consider adding enough time to hit each item and sweet spot at least once if you know where they are, plus a little bonus inventory time, before death state fires - that way if the player comes in to a frame fresh, they can use that inventory time for more exploration, and if they know what they're after, they have enough time to mix). You might have already done this but some players are slower than others so extending a little can help, just knowing you might overstay your welcome and hit the death state is enough to keep that pace up, even if it's a little more chill in how quickly it fires. For me an extra second would have made a huge difference, at least reflectivly that's how it feels, but it's hard to say. You could also have the first death fire at the same rate and each additional death scene/ location takes a little longer, so the player still feels like IT COULD HAPPEN AT ANY MOMENT. Another idea is for every death each death idle extends by a second, so that the game curves you down to finish it, the longer you player. The illusion of random times would also increase the panic. 

With the internal monologues, I misinterprete both sections because of it - I did actually get an item from the darkened area but didn't realize because there isnt any player feedback on it (that I remember) so maybe just adding a rolldown effect on the inventory after you get an item, so the player can see they've picked up something, would be good. Also, with the door FMV I'd just do a dumb 'it's locked' msg which I think fits the homage angle and also lets the player know what they're looking for to finish the game. I was kind of just stumbling blind even with the final item, thinking maybe I'd use the kitchen item by clicking during the death state xD

Sorry for the essay, I really dig the game and look forward to potentially more in the same vein, playing some good horror FMV games sounds like a dream come true ^_^ 

i was so confused! but great work! 

Really fun video!, thank you for showing the game! 

sure ^^

I really liked this game! you guys need to expand this game it was alot of fun! the idea is great!


Hey! Thank you! We will surely consider expanding on the project if enough people is interested. Really enjoyed your video!

Deleted 4 years ago

Wow!! thank you so much for showing the game out there! I'm glad you enjoy it. A little hint, If you take too much time on one room the killer will find you, you have to keep moving!

So.. you can't use the flashlight on the dark area? Maybe it needs batteries? 

Hey no spoilers! hehe

I'm asking because it doesn't seem to work, to use the flashlight on the dark area. :) 

Interesting, i'm gonna try it when i have my laptop's back :P :)

Nice! let me know what you think

I will :P